WHEELCHAIR PROBLEMS
Alright, so I think it's very necessary for me to share with all of you what happened to me today. I’m not sure whether to laugh, cry, scream, or be a mixture of all three. The last few months I’ve been experiencing many wheelchair problems, something I’m sure many of you don’t experience quite often. It all started back in early October when I noticed my tires weren’t spinning properly. We had my chair checked as soon as possible and received new tires a few weeks later thinking it would solve the problem. It didn’t. My back tires were spinning out more and more as the days progressed, and the wheelchair technician couldn’t figure out the problem. Finally, in mid-December, someone realized it wasn’t the tires themselves, but the mechanics of the chair that were giving me the problem. The parts were ordered and I’m STILL waiting for it to be fixed.
Since that last appointment, my wheelchair has gotten significantly worse when I drive it. More often than not, I find myself asking a friend to kick my back left tire because it gets stuck sideways, then drags along the floor. I’ve gotten tangled up in more rugs than I can remember and have spun out on every dry or wet surface imaginable. Don’t even get me started when it rains. I’m better off locking myself indoors. Saying that it’s frustrating to drive my chair right now is quite an understatement. It has gotten to a point where I’m beginning to burn the motor from overworking it, which brings me to the chaos that unfolded today.
I decided to run a few errands today and headed over to the local Target with a friend. We were going into the dressing room when I suddenly smelled that horrible smell that resembled an electrical fire. We quickly shut off my chair and sat in the dressing room for 45 minutes, hoping my chair would cool off. Nothing. The sales associate in the dressing room started to become increasingly concerned that we were going to have carbon monoxide poisoning and called for some guest assistance. At this point, I’m mortified by what is happening and scared that I have carbon monoxide poisoning thanks to that woman. Not only that, there are mysterious black marks from my tires on the store’s rug and I’m completely stranded. I ended up having another Target employee push me out of the store and sit outside while we waited for another friend to come to our rescue. If that man ever reads this, I sincerely apologize for making you profusely sweat and work a little extra hard today.
Good news? I didn’t set on fire today. Bad news? My chair is now parked in the garage and I’m pretty sure it bit the dust. In other words, I’m stuck in these four walls until further notice.
